2010: The year in north Seattle & Green Lake real estate

As we say “so long” to 2010, I know all of us in the real estate industry are hoping for a much improved 2011. This wasn’t a great year for selling your home as prices fell, then fell some more, and then leveled, and then fell more…..

But still, north Seattle did ok. Don’t get me wrong – we still declined – but it could have been a lot worse. If we look at the two main north Seattle areas according to our local MLS (area 705 is Ballard/Green Lake and north Seattle west of I-5, and area 710 is U-District, Ravenna and all east of I-5), we had a total of 2,691 sales in 2010. That’s down from 3,102 in 2009 – about a 13% drop – but we’ve been steadily declining that way since 2005 when we had almost double the amount of sales at 4,768.

Here’s a breakdown of where the sales happened (single family and condominium):

Ballard led the way with 415 sales, followed not-so-closely by Green Lake with 290 sales. Greenwood scored 129, Broadview 118, and Phinney Ridge rounded out the top five with 109.

Since I live in Green Lake I get to be biased and look more closely at that neighborhood (although if you’d like further stats on any other neighborhood feel free to email or message me and I will be happy to provide).

Looking at just single family homes in Green Lake (not condo), and taking out the few oddly priced bank owned properties (there were 15 of those that sold), there were 245 sales in Green Lake this year. Here’s how they break down:

Average Original List Price: $504,918

Average Final Sale Price: $485,405

Average Size: 1,983 square feet

Average Price per Sq Ft: $244.78

Average Time on Market: 61 Days

What does this all mean? It means not much has changed in Green Lake this year. In 2009, the average sale price was $441,275 and the average price per foot was $243.26. See? Not a big change at all.

Looking forward, I’d say its wishful thinking to think that prices are going to start going up again in 2011. I’m not saying it can’t be done – but it certainly won’t happen anytime soon. BUT, I do believe that we’re going to start seeing an upshift in the amount of sales that happen. The great thing about our local neighborhoods is our sustainability – people are always going to want to live here.